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architecture and design magazineSun, 02 Aug 2015 21:49:42 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2Unintended Functions by Nick Allmanhttp://www.dezeen.com/2010/01/15/unintended-functions-by-nick-allman/
http://www.dezeen.com/2010/01/15/unintended-functions-by-nick-allman/#commentsFri, 15 Jan 2010 16:49:58 +0000http://www.dezeen.com/?p=60582American designer Nick Allman has created an installation where a light appears to be ripped out of the wall at the Dean Johnson Gallery in Indianapolis. Called Unintended Functions, the project also includes a shelf and drawer bursting out from under the plaster. Photographs are by Polina Osherov Photography. Here's some more text from Nick […]

As a studio furniture maker Allman strives to blur the line between furniture and art. By creating a narrative of destruction in the series Unintended Functions, Allman’s conceptual furniture forms question the boundaries of design and challenge the viewer’s notion of a functional, well- crafted object.

Like an improvised stool made from a tree stump, their utility is initially masked by their raw form.

At first glance they appear to be nothing more than destroyed walls, but with time their utility becomes apparent and they are assimilated into the space as furniture objects. This process of shock, acceptance, and eventual utilization as a furniture form questions the need for refinement in a functional object.

The materials and processes utilized to create these pieces flirt with question of what constitutes craft. Though it is clear to the viewer that the maker of these forms implemented traditional craft processes in their creation, the motivation is not clear. This ambiguity forces the viewer to consider the role of craft in the work and eventually raises the question; is it merely incidental?

Nick Allman is an Indianapolis based designer. He will complete his BFA in furniture design at Herron School of Art and Design in the spring of 2010.